You needed to know: Honda CRF250L Rally

From the open highway to dirt roads, from the shortest guy on the Common Tread team to the tallest, we've spent a considerable amount of time with Honda's CRF250L Rally to give you the information you needed to know. Here are some of the questions people asked over at YouTube.

Destry Allgood: I’m a long time rider, but I’ve always been intimidated by off road motorcycling. I’d like to know if this would be a bike I could learn to ride off road, but not grow out of too quickly. Another thing is that it seems like it would be good for an overnight camping trip, but I’m not sure if the 250 cc engine would be up to any highway miles. If you could address any of that in your video, I’d appreciate it. I’m Destry, and I’m outta here!

Hey Destry, thanks for the question. I think the Rally or the base CRF250L would be great bikes to get you started off-road. The power delivery is predictable and not intimidating. I only mention the base CRF250L because it’s a little bit closer to the ground and there are fewer plastic parts to break if you drop the bike. And if you’re learning to ride off-road there is a 99 percent chance you’re going to drop the bike. But that’s all part of the fun of learning to ride in the dirt.

As far as outgrowing it, that will all depend on how quickly you get comfortable off-road. If you’re a long-time rider who takes to off-road riding like a duck to water, then growing out of this bike quickly is a real possibility. However, I’d rather see you do that than invest in a bigger, faster machine and get intimidated and end up not riding in the dirt at all. Keep in mind, you could always find a cheaper used bike to learn on and move up from there. (I am sure you could even find a decent deal on a used CRF250L or perhaps even a Rally.)

As far as the highway is concerned, I am a big guy who stands around six feet, three inches tall and I weigh around 220 pounds at the moment. I was able to maintain a constant 75 mph with this bike on the highway when Lemmy and I went camping together. You should be fine for the occasional weekend camping trip. In my opinion, the big thing the Rally gives you over the base CRF250L is the extra wind protection.

Jamie: How do you pack all of your camping equipment on it?

There are a lot of options for strapping items to the CRF250L Rally. Here's how I outfitted the bike for our motorcycle camping video:

Wolfman Enduro Tank Bag — I used this one because it was what I had lying around from use on my other bikes, but it worked perfectly on the Rally. It held all of my small items that I wanted easy access to.

Giant Loop Great Basin Saddlebag Roll Top — I wanted to go with the smaller Coyote Roll Top pack because it’s cheaper and smaller for enduro bikes, but it isn’t wide enough to fit over the Rally’s plastic body work. In the end the Great Basin offered a ton of room and I was able to fit almost all of my items in here.

ROK Straps — In the end, my tent and sleeping pad didn’t want to easily fit into the Great Basin because of their shape. I simply lashed them to the back of the bike using ROK Straps. I own so many pairs of these straps it’s not even funny. I use them from everything from strapping in items to the bed of my truck to putting my friends’ bikes back together after they crash.

Like I said, you can go with other options if you don’t want to invest in something like the Great Basin. Lemmy and I have both done trips with just cheap throw-over saddlebags or a dry bag strapped on top of the back seat. It all depends on your budget and what you’re looking to tackle.

Mladen Danic: Can it handle a 6'4''' guy of 240lbs?

At six feet, three inches, and 220 pounds, I am close to you in size. I was able to cruise at 75 mph on the highway with a little bit of power left to tap. While the engine is peppy enough to have some fun with, it really needs to be wrung out to really get the power out of it. It’s built for longevity, not for performance.

Where the bike is really lacking, however, is the suspension. It’s way too soft and the damping is non-existent. I read an article on Pro Pilot Suspension about a CRF250L Rally suspension refresh they did using an Öhlins shock and springs. It looks awesome, but it’s also gonna run about a fifth of the cost of the bike.

That being said, that’s where a lot of the cost savings for these smaller bikes comes from, so it’s normally one of the most important modifications you can make. If you’re really interested in this bike, that would be my number-one recommendation from a modification standpoint to get it up to the task of handling a rider of your size. I can’t stress enough, though, that you can’t get away with just the fork or the shock like you can on some bikes. You will have to do both to fix the problem.

Gary Walker: Riding comfort range - could/would you do 40+ miles at gentle hiway speeds on a fairly regular commute? BTW - Honda UK did show a mocked up road crf450 at last fall's UK bike show. Hoping they persuade mother Honda.

When Lemmy and I shot the camping video, I rode nearly 200 miles on the highway from Philly to our campground, tackling about 100 miles at a time. It was actually better on the road than I thought it was going to be. The windscreen did a good job blocking the wind and I was able to hold it at around 75 mph. That being said, I don’t know if I would want to tackle regular highway miles with this bike. It’s more fun on back roads or blasting around the city. If your “gentle” highway speeds are around 50-60 mph, you’ll probably enjoy it more than if you’re regularly blasting down the freeway.

In other news, there were a ton of comments, including yours, pleading with Honda to release a CRF450L. After our video was released, American Honda announced that the CRF450L will go into production. I’m genuinely excited about that one.

Lars van de Velde: Does it come with the nobbies as standard? And is there an option for more street oriented tires?

The stock IRC Trails GT tires on the bike are middle of the road DOT dual-sport tires. They’re not great off-road and they’re not amazing on the street. They just do OK in for both, which is fine for what this bike is. The problem you run into are the tire sizes.

The front is a 3.00-21, which is cool because you can get away with running a 90/90-21. That gives you a lot of options for both street and dirt-focused tires. The problem is the rear 120/80-18 tire. There aren’t a lot of street-biased options in that size.

Assuming you don’t want to mix front and rear tires, I would recommend going with Shinko 705 Dual Sport Tires, Pirelli MT90AT Enduro / Dual Sport Tires, or Bridgestone Battlax BT45 Sport Touring Tires. Any of these options will be available in the sizes you need while offering up varying levels of better street performance. 

Here are some of the questions asked at Instagram.

Ktm127: Check your facts guys. Per Honda's website it has the exact same travel [as the CRF250L]. I also saw a brake lever review from you once that stated the quick reach adjusters were to account for brake fade on the track... 🤦‍♂️

Well hello there, Ktm127. According to Honda’s website, the front suspension on the CRF250L has 9.8 inches of travel whereas the CRF250L Rally’s fork has 11 inches. Travel at the rear of the CRF250L is 9.4 inches, while the Rally’s is 10.3 inches. Now, I’m no math whiz like @steve_kamrad but that sounds like about an inch to me.

As for the video about the levers, I’m not completely sure I remember the video you’re referring to, but if I recall correctly I believe I said you could use the quick-adjust feature while riding to adapt the levers to account for brake fade as it was occurring. I could be wrong, however. If you find the video, send it over in the comments section. I’m happy to check my facts. We all make mistakes.

Loudon.blake: Would you recommend this as a first bike?

I think this would make for a pretty damn fine first bike, as long as you’re on the taller side. It has a 35.2-inch seat height, and even though the suspension compresses quite a bit once you’re sitting on it, getting on and off can be a bit tricky for shorter riders.

Seat height aside, the power is fun without being intimidating. It can get up to highway speeds (but not much faster), it’s great on gas, has a relatively indestructible engine in it, the windshield makes it more friendly for everyday use than the CRF250L, and it offers enough room to lash stuff down to the back if you want to go camping or for a weekend trip. Whether you’re bopping around a country road or a city street, I think this would make for an excellent first bike to learn on.

ernestos_pesto: it better than wr250?

It depends on what you’re looking for. If you are looking for a true, off-road, dual-sport machine, I’d recommend going with the WR250. There are a lot more options for suspension upgrades and off-road performance parts. However, if you’re just keen on the style but you’re not really interested in going off-road, this would be an excellent street bike to bop around on.

Ktm127 (Back for more): @thefixxer turns out out we are both correct. Look at the abs VS non-abs rally

Ktm127 (Not giving up): @thefixxer front travel is listed as 11" for the abs version, 9.8" for non-abs

There is a glitch on the non-ABS page that is showing you the same facts as the regular CRF250L. Look at the top left hand of the page. Even after you select the Rally, the specs don’t change from the CRF250L. I promise you that the Rally features the same extra travel over the base CRF250L regardless of whether you have ABS. You can’t believe everything you read on the internet! Trust me 😏. I know we make mistakes sometimes, and we’re the first to admit when we do, but at Common Tread we put in extra effort to check our facts before publication.

I’m pretty damn sure on this one.